We spent our last full day with my cousin and his beautiful wife and family, joining them in their adventure to the Bali Safari and Marine Park.

Usually zoo’s make me sad because enclosures are small and the animals looks so sad, but this place was great. Still not their natural habitats of course, but really nice big areas for the wildlife to live in.As we entered we heard the beautiful sound of the Rindik, and saw two men playing.

The rindik is an 11-13 keyed bamboo xylophone and has the most wonderful sound. Danny tried it out and did well – of course.

Quaid and Caleb tried it out too and were quite the pair. Notice how Quaid needs his tongue out to concentrate.

Amazing statues were around every corner,

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decorated entry ways,

and costumes hung from ceilings.

We saw lions….

(Some of them very close up),

White tigers…

and leopards, oh my!

The cousins had a blast and half spending time together.

We saw intricately painted eggs,

amazing symbolic engravings and statues,

and offerings to the Gods with burning incense.

Orangutans entertained us,

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elephants stole our hearts,

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we even fed them – their curious trunks seemed to have a mind of their own.

Emma got slapped in the face by an elephant ear and laughed so hard it almost started an asthma attack!

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It’s easy to fall in love with a baby hippo!

I felt like I was back in Africa for a moment as I watched zebra grazing,

giraffe eating with their big black tongues,

and meerkat mischievously looking for trouble to get into.

The best part of it all was spending time together as a family,

all while immersing ourselves in a beautiful culture.

We love this place and are so excited to continue learning. Hopefully this week we will be in a rental home and start riding around on scooters. We wish Anthony, Teresa and they beautiful family would just stay with us here, but hopefully we are close enough now that we’ll see each other soon again.